


Sea Salt in Your Hair

by daily_basis_disaster



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Is Gay, F/M, M/M, everyone is legal, except for those who are not, except for those who aren't, i am a just god, kh3 ending isn't canon, let's save will turner, post kh3, potc 4 and 5 aren't canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 17:10:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17902160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daily_basis_disaster/pseuds/daily_basis_disaster
Summary: After the war is over, Ansem the Wise and Yen Sid send them back home for six months so they can reacclimate to regular life.Naturally, they sneak off to go on a post-traumatic road trip around the Caribbean instead.





	Sea Salt in Your Hair

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still a little messed up over Kingdom Hearts 3, but let's be real, the Pirates of the Caribbean world was absurdly good.

After the war was over and the shock of it left their lungs, allowing them to finally breathe again, and their wounds began to fade into scars, Yen Sid and Ansem put them on, what they called,  _ reintegration leave. _

Roxas called it  _ bullshit _ .

“It’s just for six months,” said Ansem, trying to placate him. All of them—the Destiny Island trio, the Twilight Town trio, and Naminé—were crammed into Yen Sid’s study, making the rage radiating off Roxas all the more suffocating, like being trapped inside a cave with a nest of angry hornets. “Half of you haven’t lived normal lives for several years, and the other half of you have never lived normal lives at all. Now that the war is over, you need to go home, take a break, and learn how to be something other than soldiers and nobodies. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé, you’ll go to Destiny Island, and Roxas, Axel, and Xion, you’ll go back to Twilight Town. And, you’ll  _ stay there _ .”

“Besides,” said Yen Sid, pointedly not looking at Sora. “Some of you could benefit from some…traditional education.”

“After everything we’ve been through,” said Roxas. “You want us to just go sit somewhere and do fuck all except for homework?”

“Roxas, be reasonable,” said Yen Sid. “The fact of the matter is that there may come a day where you won’t be able to be a keyblade wielder anymore. How will you go about life then if you’ve never learned?”

“I guess I’ll just have to sit in a tower all day and give bullshit orders to people who are actually doing something—”

“I concur with Roxas,” said Riku, half to interrupt him before it got too ugly. However, he couldn’t hide the betrayal off his face when he looked at Yen Sid. “I’m a keyblade master. Surely I’ve proved that I’m capable of handling myself.”

“I’m making everyone do it,” said Yen Sid. “Aqua included. She, Terra, and Ventus have already consented to taking a sabbatical in Radiant Gardens. Everyone else, even all the former Organization Thirteen members, is drafting up reintegration plans as we speak.”

“It might not be so bad,” said Axel, nudging Roxas’s shoulder with his own. “We’ll get to live in Twilight Town again, just the three of us. Plus, if they managed to get Marluxia and Larxene on board, we can’t let them show us up on agreeableness.”

“I will warn you,” said Ansem. “In order to keep the seven of you honest, we’ll be putting tracking devices on your phones and your ships.”

“I’m sorry, what?” asked Axel, outraged, dropping all act of complacency. “Are you doing that to everyone?”

“No, it’s just the seven of you—”

“So, you trust us less than  _ Marluxia _ ?”

“Not in general,” said Ansem. “Just to not escape in this specific circumstance.”

Narrowing her eyes, Kairi opened her mouth to say something, and Roxas looked to be right behind her, so Sora cut everyone off before a larger argument could break out. “It won’t be that bad,” said Sora. “It can’t be.”

Though no one looked pleased, Sora included, his words put an end to it, and everyone conceded.

* * *

Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé made it one month. It  _ was _ a wonderful month, filled with beach days and familiar sights and a glorious amount of doing absolutely nothing. Arm in arm, they showed Naminé around the island, introducing her to the local music, their favorite foods, and all the hidden gems and dives tucked away in the corners of the town. If nothing else, it was worth it just to watch Naminé really experience life outside for the first time, as opposed to vicariously through someone else’s memories or heart. Life, real life, was even better than Naminé could have imagined.

(Kairi did feel bad for her. Though Naminé was no longer a nobody, the blood of a witch still flowed through her veins. She still saw things and people and places in a way that she could not articulate, forced instead to draw them at inconvenient hours, sometimes tiring herself out for days at a time due to sleeplessness. Once, Kairi woke up at three-in-the-morning to the sound of Naminé frantically calling Ansem the Wise, breathless in panic and confusion. Concerned, she peeked over at her sketchbook and saw a drawing of Xigbar holding an ominous, black box, and Kairi wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Worst, Naminé kept  _ apologizing _ to her for these incidents, as if Kairi was the one who was suffering instead of her. Before they returned to the island, Ienzo sequenced both of their DNA, confirming what everyone already suspected; functionally, Kairi and Naminé were an unconventional set of identical twins. However, Kairi did not need a lab test to tell her that, and even if the results had showed otherwise, it would not have changed how Kairi felt.

“You’re my sister, Naminé,” said Kairi, grabbing her hand after another string of apologies followed the Xigbar incident. “Whatever happens, I’m going to look after you, and we’ll figure this out together. Got it memorized?”)

But, after a month, a nagging restlessness started to bubble beneath their skin. They realized that home would eventually mean sitting in classroom and going through the motions of a life that was never theirs. After all, it wasn’t like they would even get to keep it; in half a year’s time, they would go right back to being soldiers who could see the entire universe and take it by the reins.  Everything about home felt fake, and they were still debilitatingly on edge, unable to calm their nerves down from the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. None of them were comforted by Ansem’s and Yen Sid’s promise of “just six months,” because it felt like an eternity when the end of the world seemed like it might come tomorrow.

“I’m bored,” said Sora, sitting down on the sand during one of their beach trips, and the rest of them followed suit. What he meant, of course, was:  _ I have nothing to distract myself from the constant paranoia that we’re all going to die soon. _ But, that was decidedly less polite.

“I know,” said Riku, to which he meant:  _ I nearly attack my own reflection in the mirror last night because, after I woke up from a nightmare, I thought I was Ansem. _ “I was hoping home would be a little less—”

“Unsettling?” asked Kairi.  _ I had a panic attack in the shower this morning. _ “Me, too.”

Beside them, Naminé said nothing, not wanting to seem ungrateful by speaking ill of her new home after being trapped for so long. However, the fact that she refused to make eye contact with any of them, instead just scooping up sand in her hands and gently sprinkling it over her legs, spoke volumes.

“We could always go somewhere,” said Kairi. She lay back against the sand and smiled softly into the sun. “We’re not kids with a raft anymore. We could go anywhere we wanted to.”

“Maybe Yen Sid and Ansem the Wise are right,” said Riku. “We’ve not had normal lives for four years. It could be good for us to stay here.”

“Spoken like a true keyblade master,” said Kairi, clutching at her heart in faux-admiration. “So grownup and responsible.”

“Kairi—”

“ _ Riku _ , we may never have this much downtime again. Of all the places we’ve seen, of all the places Sora has connections that owe him, is there really nowhere you’d like to go and just have fun? We could go to a festival in Corona, or fight in the Olympics at the Coliseum, or stay in a castle somewhere—”

Sora jolted up to his knees with a crooked, goofy grin on his face. “We should become pirates!”

The other three gave him a bewildered look. “That’s not… _ quite _ what I had in mind,” said Kairi.

“No, I mean it. I have a boat in the Caribbean, and Jack taught me how to captain it. I already know my way around.” None of them looked convinced. “C’mon! There’s adventure, exploration, treasure—”

“Sora,” said Naminé, extending her fingers to touch his cheek. “Can I look?”

Sora nodded, so Naminé closed her eyes, pouring through his thoughts. As vivid as if they were her own memories, she saw a flag waving in the wind and fistfuls of gold in his hands. The smell of sea salt and rum wafted through the air, and the cheers of a thousand pirates echoed in a battle cry as they confronted Cutler Beckett’s fleet. She felt a surge of adrenaline as two swords collided in a maelstrom, and she felt peace as she looked out into the great expanse of endless water, knowing that the sea belonged to everyone and she could go anywhere she pleased.

“Let’s become pirates,” said Naminé, grinning as her eyes lit up.

As far as Kairi was concerned, Naminé’s excitement was a good enough reason to go along with it. Riku remained less convinced.

“We should trust Yen Sid’s and Ansem the Wise’s guidance,” said Riku, trying to display the accountability he thought his title deserved.

“Why?” asked Sora. “It’s not like they trust you. They put a tracker on our ship.”

“Yeah,” said Riku, attempting to hold back a smile. “But, I have to share that with you.”

“Okay, that’s fair. But, they put a tracker on your gummiphone, too, and we don’t share that.”

Riku bit his lip in thought, which Sora knew meant he was winning. “C’mon, Riku.” Sora grabbed Riku’s shoulders in a gesture of camaraderie, which made Riku’s heart stop beating for a tick for reasons he could not quite articulate. “There’s a ton of heartless ships we can go after, so we’ll be able to keep our skills up even better than we can here. We’ll have the freedom to go anywhere we want to. Plus, did I mention treasure? Because, treasure’s a big perk.”

“Alright,” said Riku, with a grin that matched Sora’s. It was always hard for Riku to say no to him. “But, there’s still the problem of the trackers on our phones and ship.”

“We’ll have to call Axel, Roxas, and Xion, anyway,” said Kairi. “They’ll kill us if we escape without them. Maybe they’ll have some ideas.”

* * *

Roxas, Axel, and Xion made it one month. It  _ was _ a wonderful month, filled with seal salt ice cream and familiar sights and a glorious amount of doing absolutely nothing. Arm in arm, they rediscovered their old home and were pleasantly surprised with the new additions. With a large bucket of popcorn, they watched a movie at the outdoor theater at least twice a week (even if all they showed were cartoons of Sora and cheesy movies about aliens, because both provided perfect snarking opportunities). If they name-dropped the fact that Roxas and Xion basically  _ were _ Sora, they could get reservations at the bistro anytime they wanted, a fact they took advantage of several times. Life, normal life, was even better than they could have imagined.

(Roxas and Axel didn’t fall in love, then. That happened a while ago, in a previous lifetime, underneath the sunset as they sat on a clock tower. This time, they did think about admitting it: sometimes on the same clock tower, sometimes when their faces were illuminated by the candlelight in the bistro, sometimes when they were laughing in the dark of their apartment. But, the confession never came, and they continued to admire one another at arms length.

Worst, they began to drive Xion nuts. The unresolved tension that permeated all of their interactions was bordering on ridiculous. Not to mention, Xion cared a great deal for both of them, and the fact that they were one step away from being happy with one another was getting on her nerves.

“Naminé, if they don’t get together soon,” said Xion, on the phone with her one night. “I’m gonna lose it.”)

But, after a month, a nagging restlessness started to bubble beneath their skin. They realized that home would eventually mean carrying out Ansem’s threat of homework and going through the motions of a life that was never theirs. After all, it wasn’t like they would even get to keep it; in half a year’s time, they would go right back to being soldiers who had been dragged through hell and barely lived to tell the tale. Everything about home felt fake, and they were still debilitatingly on edge, unable to calm their nerves down from the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. None of them were comforted by Ansem’s and Yen Sid’s promise of “just six months,” because it felt like an eternity when the end of the world seemed like it might come tomorrow.

“I’m bored,” said Roxas, sitting down on the ledge of the tower during one of their ice cream trips, and Axel and Xion followed suit. What he meant, of course, was:  _ I have nothing to distract myself from the constant paranoia that I’m going to lose the two of you at any moment. _ But, that was decidedly less emotionally unaffected.

“I know,” said Axel, to which he meant:  _ I’m glad the three of us share an apartment, because I have to wake up several times in the night to creepily make sure I can still hear both of you breathing through your bedroom doors.  _ “I was hoping home would be a little less—”

“Unsettling?” asked Xion.  _ I had a panic attack in the shower this morning. _ “Me, too.”

The disappointed, tense silence hung over them like a poisonous fog.

“So, what do you say?” asked Axel, with a smirk. “Want to bust out of here?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” said Roxas, matching his grin.

“I want to leave as much as you two,” said Xion. “But, we have to figure out how. You heard what Ansem said. They’ve got trackers on our phones and ship.”

“Hey, if we can help save the world, we can figure out how to escape without Ansem and Yen Sid knowing.” Frowning, Axel finished the last of his ice cream. “Pence could probably figure out something with the phones, but the ship is going to be a problem.”

“We should call Sora,” said Xion. “They’ll be pissed if we escape without them. Maybe they’ll have some ideas.”

Nodding, Roxas pulled out his gummiphone. Right as he was dialing his number, Sora’s name flashed across the screen.

“I was just about to call you,” said Roxas, answering it to find Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé sitting on a beach together.

“Must be our twin telepathy,” joked Sora. Before everyone went their separate ways, Ienzo sequenced their DNA to find that Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Ventus matched as an unconventional set of fraternal quadruplets (which, he said, should have been impossible, and questions were raised about the connection between Ventus’s parents and Sora’s; but, as Ventus’s parents were dead, the possibility could not be explored). To no one’s surprise, Sora thoroughly embraced the idea and had yet to stop reminding them. “We’re breaking out to become pirates in the Caribbean. You guys want to join?”

They really should have asked for details before agreeing.

In their desperation to leave,  _ should _ and  _ should not _ ceased to matter.

“We’ll take care of the phones,” said Roxas. “But, we’re going to need a ship.”

“Do you think Isa could pick us up?” asked Riku.

Axel shook his head. “Ansem gave Isa a second chance, so he’s trying not to push his luck at the moment. Besides, Isa’s too obvious of a choice. If he takes a ship to Twilight Town, Ansem is going to pay attention.”

“I’d say Aqua, Terra, or Ventus,” said Kairi. “But, they won’t work for the same reason.”

“There is one person we could ask,” said Naminé. “Who absolutely no one would suspect.”

“Wait,” said Roxas. “You’re not talking about—”

“I am. He’d ignore Ansem’s orders and you know it.”

“Let’s be reasonable here, Naminé,” said Axel, catching on. “I like the guy, but I do  _ not _ want to be in his debt.”

“As much as I hate to say it, Axel’s right,” said Riku. Axel rolled his eyes. “Not to mention, Sora killed him. What makes you think he’d help us?”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” said Naminé.

“Who did I kill?” asked Sora, looking bewilderedly between all of them.

“Demyx,” said Riku, Roxas, Axel, and Naminé in unison.

“Please?” asked Kairi. Stepping in for Naminé, she gave Riku and Axel her best puppy dog eyes. “He may be the only chance we have.”

Taking only seconds to break, Riku shrugged, deciding that making a deal with Demyx was worth it if it made his friends happy. Axel’s resolve would have broken just as quickly if not for the blond staring him down.

“Please, Roxas,” said Naminé, mimicking Kairi’s expression. She knew Axel would choose Roxas over Kairi. “I’ve never gotten to go sailing before.”

Roxas turned his glare towards Naminé, but the low-blow attempt at guilting him worked. Though his face said otherwise, he looked at Axel and nodded. With hesitation, both in fear that Roxas might change his mind again and his unwillingness to involve Demyx in the first place, Axel punched in Demyx’s number into his own phone.

“Hey,” said Axel, when he picked up, turning the camera so he, Roxas, Xion, and Roxas’s phone were in view.

“Yo,” said Demyx, reclined back in a chair outside somewhere, with his sitar resting lazily by his side. “If it isn’t the traitors…and Kairi.”

“You’re a traitor, too, you know,” said Axel, but Demyx waved it off. “You back in the land of the somebodies?”

“Yup.” Demyx leaned back further and plucked out a few notes on his sitar. They came through the screen warped and crackled like bad hold music. “Gotta say, I’m getting real tired of being killed.”

“At least it was Ansem, this time,” said Xion. “He made it peaceful, right?”

“Well, it  _ was _ going to be peacefully by Ansem. But, Larxene said that she’d pay me if she could stab me to death instead, so now I’m one heart and 10,000 munny richer.”

As he pressed his lips into a flat line, Riku’s regret about how fast he caved was almost palpable, even through the phone screen.

“So, do you have a new name, now?” asked Sora. “Or, well, an old name?”

“Nope. My somebody name was Demyx, too.”

“I—what?”

“It already had an ‘x’ in it,” said Demyx, shrugging. “The organization couldn’t figure out a better name to justify adding another one. I mean, I could have been Dexmyx, but that sounds a lot like a cereal, and Xemdyx just sends a bad message—”

Riku looked like he was about to have a stroke, and as his untimely death would likely put a damper on their pirate adventure, Axel quickly interrupted. “We need a favor. Specifically, we need a ride to the Caribbean.”

“No can do. Ansem said that no one is supposed to help the seven of you escape.”

“Since when have you given a damn about following orders?”

“Since it would involve effort to do otherwise,” said Demyx. “Why the Caribbean?”

“We’re giving piracy a try,” said Axel.

“ _ Piracy _ ?”

“Yeah, you know: open seas, adventure, lots of gold. It’s got a charm to it, if you think about it.”

Playing a few more distorted chords to fill the silence, Demyx sat in thought for a moment and gave Axel a hard look. “Fine, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give the seven of you a ride to the Caribbean if you take me along with you.”

Axel gave a quick look towards the other gummiphone, before looking back at Demyx. “I’ll call you back in a second.”

Once Axel hung up, it only took Riku half a second to respond, “Absolutely not.”

“Look, unless you’ve taken up engineering behind our backs,” said Kairi, fighting to make everything work for Naminé’s sake. “He’s probably the only way we’re getting to the Caribbean without Yen Sid and Ansem knowing.”

“Besides, he knows we’re planning on escaping,” said Axel. “He’s a liability if we don’t take him.”

“Do you actually think Demyx cares enough about anything to tell someone?” asked Riku.

“Axel’s right,” said Roxas. “We only have one attempt to get out of here. On the off chance that Demyx is feeling talkative, I’m not willing to waste our chance.”

“Plus, it could be worse,” said Kairi. “He can control water, and he’s good at sneaking around. That could be helpful.”

“All in favor,” said Axel. “Raise your hand.”

Naminé’s, Kairi’s, Roxas’s, and Axel’s hands went first, though none of them looked particularly happy about it, followed shortly by Sora’s and Xion’s. The six of them looked towards Riku.

“Fine,” said Riku, raising his hand. “But, he’s your responsibility, Kairi.”

“Why me?” asked Kairi, wrinkling her nose.

“You’re the only one who thinks it could be worse.”

With Riku’s blessing, Axel redialed Demyx. The sitar-player greeted them with a nod.

“Done,” said Axel. “Meet us at Destiny Island.”

* * *

The screams of the Pirate King drowned in the winds of the storm outside, but that did not stop some of her crew from anxiously pressing their ears to her cabin door to search for signs of life. Others stood under the mast, using the crow’s nest as an umbrella as they clutched their holy symbols in their hands. Some prayed to the Holy Ghost and some to the ocean herself, but the prayer was the same among all, ticking in time to the crash of the tide:  _ let her live, let her live, let her live. _

Only three others were allowed inside the cabin itself. Two were midwives, draping a warm towel on her head, squeezing her hand, and helping her along. The third of their company was Jack Sparrow, standing in for a man who was dangling between the living plane and the plane beyond. Jack was not a religious man, but he did, every few minutes, look out into the waves and plead the same words that echoed in the hearts of the men outside, in time to the beat of his pacing steps.

_ Let her live, let her live, let her live. _

William Turner the Third was born at half past midnight, and the sea itself paused in reverence for the child of the Pirate King and the captain of the  _ Flying Dutchman _ .

Once there was calm again—once Elizabeth’s relieved laughter settled long enough to assure him that she really was fine—Jack stepped outside to let the crew know that all was well. The victorious hollering that followed was so great that one would have thought they stumbled upon the treasure of the century. His thoughts lingering on Elizabeth, Jack conceded that maybe they had.

Disappearing below deck, Jack ducked into one of the officer’s quarters, grabbed a piece of parchment, and quickly scribbled out:

_ It’s a boy. Billy’s got your eyes. _

_ — Jack _

“Calypso, love,” he said, putting the message in a bottle and releasing it out into the tumultuous storm. “Make sure this finds its way.”

The ocean did not give him an audible reply, but he could have sworn he saw her smile underneath the surface of the water.

* * *

Sora and his new crew tumbled into Port Royal in a mess of suitcases and clothes that they were certain they were wearing wrong. Pirate clothes would be easier to deal with, more familiar, but piracy was an offense punishable by death in Port Royal. For now, they had to wear the regular attire of the world, which was frilly in all the wrong ways and adorned with far too many buttons.

They argued round and round on Demyx’s ship for the better part of an hour about how to properly wear the chaotic bundle of clothing that Kairi had gathered from Destiny Island’s costume store. Once it was clear that no real consensus would ever be reached, Xion decided that she’d had enough and disappeared out into the world with her petticoat inside out, leaving the others to hastily follow behind her.

Desperate to get a move on, Sora navigated them to the boat yard and wandered over to  _ The Destiny _ . “That’s my boat,” said Sora, to the dockmaster. “We’ll be setting sail today.”

“You’re certain this is yours?” asked the dockmaster, furrowing his brow. Sora suspected he might have said the wrong thing without knowing it, but he nodded anyway. “Name?”

“Sora.”

“Last name?”

“There isn’t one.”

Once again, the dockmaster gave him an odd, suspicious look, which did not go unnoticed by Sora’s companions. Resting his hand on Sora’s shoulder, Riku pushed back his own shoulders and raised one of his eyebrows, daring the dockmaster to try anything, while readying his other hand to summon his keyblade. This was only made more effective by Axel—who, when straightening his spine, became the tallest person on the dock—and Roxas and Xion—who, while among the shortest, could give a mean glare when standing back-to-back. Demyx and Kairi exchanged a look, coming to a silent agreement that Kairi would stand in front of them, ready for a fight, while Demyx would put his hands on the sides of Naminé’s arms, ready to grab her and run.

All of this was not lost on the dockmaster, who found himself suddenly unable to look any of them in the eye. However, he still whistled lightly, beckoning over a handful of guards.

“Bring them to  _ her _ ,” said the dockmaster, still looking down.

“Come with us,” said the lead guard to the rest of them, looking far less intimidated due to the fact that he was armed and they were not. “If you were smart, I’d make it quiet.”

Everyone looked towards Sora, waiting for him to make the final call. “It’s not a problem,” said Sora, whose sunny smile might have looked perfectly at ease if not for the pointed look he gave his friends. “Lead away.”

“We’ve been here for three minutes,” whispered Xion, as they were led off. She and Kairi walked protectively in front of Naminé, and Demyx wrapped his arm around the latter, still preparing to bolt. “How are we already being arrested?”

“Probably because we look like idiots,” said Roxas, irritably adjusting his shirt, before leaning in towards Sora and dropping his voice. “There’s not that many. We could take them and be back at your ship before anyone knows we were here.”

“I know,” said Sora. “Just play it out.”

“Roxas is right,” said Axel. “Whoever this ‘her’ is, she clearly scares them more than we do, which concerns me, because we look like a traveling circus whose main act is fucking people up.”

“If Sora thinks we should play it out,” said Riku. “We should play it out.”

The guards dragged them deeper into the city, passing them off to another set of guards halfway through. After ducking into an alley, they were once again handed off, but their new escorts looked less like guards than they did hired thugs. Keeping to the backstreets, they were brought to a surprisingly nice-looking house, for as off the beaten path as it was, and deposited in a quaint sitting room. Immediately, Naminé pulled out her sketchbook and began to draw.

“I thought you said that you knew what you were doing,” snapped Roxas, looking over to Sora once their mysterious captors had left them alone.

“In fairness,” said Sora. “I only said that I knew how to captain a ship.”

“ _ Sora, don’t you— _ ”

“Am I interrupting something?” asked a woman, amused as she walked into the room.

Despite how recently they had seen one another, Sora almost didn’t recognize her. Last time they spoke, she was scrawny and tousled, with a sword by her side, fire in her heart, and sea salt in her hair. Now, she was well-dressed, her face had filled out, and there was an undercurrent of weariness about her. But, there was still the familiar, mischievous glint in her eyes that gave her away.

“Elizabeth!” said Sora, jumping up and smiling brightly in excitement, before composing himself and giving a slight bow. “I mean, Your Majesty.”

The rest of them exchanged panicked glances and got up to do the same, but Elizabeth laughed, waived them off, and sat down in one of the empty chairs. “For you, Elizabeth is fine,” she said, smiling warmly. “And your…friends?”

“Right, these are—” Looking around at them, Sora frowned. Introducing them as ‘my two best friends, my two clones, my best friend’s clone, my clones’ best friend, and our ride’ would hardly do. “—have I ever mentioned that I’m a quadruplet?”

In their makeshift story, Sora decided to return to the Atlantic to take down heartless and brought Roxas and Xion with him (their fourth sibling, Ventus, was off adventuring with his own friends). Kairi and Naminé were twins, of course, because it was impossible to pass them off as anything else, as well as their cousins, because Sora panicked halfway through their introductions. Riku and Axel were their two best friends, whom they were dragging along for their adventure.

“And that’s Demyx,” finished Sora awkwardly, not bothering to come up with an explanation for their eighth member’s presence. “Guys, this is Elizabeth Turner, Pirate King.”

“Sora’s told us a lot about you,” said Kairi, after everyone exchanged their greetings. “He said you were a really incredible pirate.”

“I could say the same for Sora,” said Elizabeth. “He saved all our lives.”

“How’s the crew?” asked Sora.

“Landlocked, at the moment.” With a shy smile, she tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “Just temporarily. I—”

“Congratulations,” said Naminé, looking up for the first time. “You should know, Will got Jack’s message.”

Exhaling like she’d been kicked in the chest, it took Elizabeth several seconds before she spoke again. “What?”

“It’s a boy,” read Naminé, from her sketchbook. “Billy’s got your eyes.”

“Naminé’s special,” said Kairi quickly, as everyone started to piece together what might have brought Elizabeth’s crew ashore. “She sees things from far away and draws them.”

“May I see?” asked Elizabeth.

Naminé ripped out the sketch and handed it to her. Locking her jaw in place, Elizabeth traced over the outline of her husband holding Jack’s message in his hands. If it was possible to laugh in grief, Elizabeth did.

“Are you certain?” asked Elizabeth, and Naminé nodded. “Do you swear it?”

“I swear.”

“Strange people from where you live, Sora,” she said, and a few more giggles escaped her lips. They saw tears brimming in her eyes before she sharply turned away from them. “Will you have time to stay for lunch?”

“We don’t want to be trouble,” said Sora.

“No. No trouble. I’ll tell the kitchen maid to prepare lunch for nine.” Elizabeth went to hurry from the room, but she hovered in the doorway for a moment without turning back. “Naminé, thank you.”

With that, she was gone.

* * *

It took over twenty minutes, but Elizabeth was all smiles when she returned, cradling Billy in her arms. The three-week-old was almost enough to distract them from noticing the splotchy redness around her eyes, though it went politely unacknowledged.

Over lunch, they swapped a slew of stories. Elizabeth was enthralled by theirs, even if they did have to awkwardly modify them to keep world order. It took a lot of cherry-picking, but they did manage to get across an approximate picture of their adventures, and the obvious gaps only served to add an alluring air of mystery to them. In return, she told them of Port Royal and the seas beyond, and they held onto her every word like it was scripture. Soon enough, they were, like all who came across her were destined become, absolutely smitten with her.

“Sora,” said Elizabeth, after it was over. “Take a walk with me, won’t you?”

Nodding, he left his friends behind as they cleaned up, and the two of them left the house together. As they strolled leisurely down her street, her two guards followed several paces behind them, observing protectively from afar.

“Thanks for being a good sport about the cloak and dagger to get you here,” she said. “It’s nice to have visitors.”

“Thanks for lunch,” he said. “I’m glad we could catch up.”

“How are Donald and Goofy?”

“They’re good.” Sora smiled sheepishly. “They, um, don’t actually know we’re here. Me and my friends sort of got benched by the head of our order for a while, but we got antsy and snuck off. So, if you happen to see them, please don’t say anything.”

“Won’t say a word,” she promised, laughing. “I can’t believe you never told us about your family! You seem so close.”

“We were all separated for a while.” He tried to sound aloof in the admission, but he had yet to shake his paranoia that everyone would, at any moment, once again slip through his fingers. “Roxas, Xion, and Ventus were…lost, and the rest of them were far away. I guess it was too painful.”

When brazened with adventure, there was a legendary quality about Elizabeth that made her seem larger than life. She was Pirate King, wife of Death, the woman with godly wit. Without a falter in confidence, she could lead a fleet into a hopeless battle and rise from the ashes victorious. Songs were written about mythical women like Elizabeth.

As she stopped to ponder Sora’s words, looking at him carefully with a frown on her face, some of the facade seemed to momentarily slip. For the first time since Sora had known her, it was apparent that she could not have been any older than Demyx, if that. In that moment, she was just Elizabeth Turner, the patron saint of kids who did not do as they were told, a young mother whose husband was alive as the dead could be but lost at sea all the same. In that moment, as a punch of grief shone dimly in her eyes, she and Sora understood one another a little bit better.

Sora wondered, when people looked at him and his friends, whether they saw the youth or the war, too.

“Are they like you?” she asked, miming the swinging of a sword. “With the keys?”

“Mostly. Naminé isn’t, because her thing is drawing, and Demyx isn’t, because he’s just…Demyx.”

“Are a lot of people like that where you’re from?”

Sora shook his head. “There used to be a lot more, but nowadays, it’s just us, Ventus, and a few others that are left.”

“Oh.” Once again, with a frown, she examined his face for a few moments. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“It sounds lonely.”

“Nah.” To assure her, a wide grin broke out across his face, but he  _ did _ mean it. “I mean, Riku might disagree, but I think a person can do a lot worse than having a dozen friends by their side.”

“Always the optimist, Sora,” she said, shaking her head, but she grinned, too.

“When are you getting back to sea?”

“Soon. A couple months, maybe, but only long enough to get to Shipwreck City. You can’t raise a baby on a boat, after all.” Peeking over the skyline to the ocean, she gave a half-smile that did not reach her eyes. “Though, it is a shame. If there was ever a child meant to grow up on the ocean, it’s Billy. But, my court will need me soon enough.”

They walked in silence for a few moments, enjoying the cool breeze that carried in the smell of sea salt from Port Royal’s edge, and it called to both of them like a siren’s song. Sora looked over to see her take a deep breath in and hold in the scent of it like cigarette smoke, longing for something that she could not have. He did not know if she was mourning for the sea itself or a certain captain on it, but either way, it made her once again seem uncharacteristically small in a way that was unsettling to watch.

“Sora, will you do me a favor?” He nodded. “If you should happen to see Jack before I do, will you give him a message?”

“‘Course.”

“Tell him that no matter what happens in the end, I won’t blame him.”

Sora suspected there was a story there, but he did not find it his place to press. “You can count on me.”

“Thank you,” she said. The melancholy lingered a few moments more, but then the smile and the mischievous glimmer returned to her face like they were never lost. “One more thing. What the bloody hell is up with your outfits?”

“Are they all wrong?” asked Sora, with an embarrassed smile.

“ _ All _ wrong,” she said, laughing.

Taking pity on them before they left, she did help them straighten up, so their clothes were no longer backwards, half-buttoned, and mismatched. Then, they gave their gracious farewells and made their way to the docks.

“I need you to get out a message,” said Elizabeth to one of her guards, as she watched  _ The Destiny _ sail away under the colours of a yellow-fruit flag she did not recognize. “Across the seven seas, get it out that if anyone should harm  _ The Destiny _ or its crew, they will face the wrath of the Pirate King herself.”

* * *

There were four officer’s quarters on their boat, including the captain’s, which would have worked out perfectly for them if each room had more than one bed.

No one wanted to sleep with Demyx, so he won the proverbial lottery and got a room to himself. The girls were perfectly content to pile nearly on top of one another, giggling as they took the room next to Demyx’s, placed their stuff on the floor, and changed into their pirate gear. That left one room for Axel and Roxas and the other for Sora and Riku.

Axel and Roxas were engaged in a delicate, awkward dance of trying to pretend that being forced to share a bed wasn’t making them both uncomfortable and kind of turned on, each unaware that the other was doing the exact same thing. Setting their bags on the floor, they bantered back and forth about who got which side of the bed (like in most of their arguments, Roxas won), before finally ridding themselves of their awful civilian wear.

Both deliberately did not make eye contact as they were changing, only turning around once they were fully clothed.

“Much better,” said Axel. “How do I look?”

Roxas did not know he had a thing for collar bones before that moment, but Axel’s shirt, which hung open low and wide enough that a large portion of his chest was visible, showed him the light. “Less stupid than you did before. What about me?”

“That coat’s cool,” said Axel, adjusting Roxas’s collar so it was no longer awkwardly tucked in at the wrong angle.  _ The color matches your eyes.  _ “The Pirate King would be proud of us both.”

Axel’s fingers lingered on Roxas’s shoulder for just a moment to long. It would have been too easy to extend his fingers just a little father, so they were resting on the outline of his jaw. Pressed close because of the cabin size, it would have been all too easy for Axel to press his lips down onto Roxas’s and forget there was a world outside of themselves. The location was hardly romantic, but it was Romantic, which Axel suspected Roxas cared more about anyway.

But, it would inevitably be rejected, successfully making their roommate experience awkward before it even began. To Roxas, he would likely always be the obnoxious redhead with a bad catchphrase, who played with fire at all the wrong times. They were friends, best friends, but all that bound them together was a shared, hellhole experience, and in moments like those, it felt a little too thin for Axel to risk breaking it.

Still, it would have been so easy.

In the hallway below, they could hear the girls laughing as they ran up the stairs and onto the deck. Taking it as their cue to join the other’s, what little courage Axel had faltered.

“We should probably get going,” said Axel. “Don’t want to miss out on Sora explaining how the hell we’re supposed to pilot this thing.”

“Right,” said Roxas, with a tense smile, undergoing his own internal turmoil about whether or not to take a chance—whether or not he would always be, in Axel’s eyes, just the scrappy kid with the biting attitude, who was only half a person, or maybe a fourth, or a fifth. “Shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

* * *

In the captain’s quarters, Sora was engaged in a delicate, awkward dance of trying to pretend that being forced to share a bed with Riku wasn’t making him both uncomfortable and kind of turned on. On the other hand, Riku only knew that he was uncomfortable and had a weird jolt of something else, but he was not sure why he felt either of those two things.

Both deliberately did not make eye contact as they were changing, only turning around once they were fully clothed.

Biting his lip, Riku studied Sora for a moment. “What Is it?”

“What do you mean?” asked Sora, straightening his belongings to try and distract from how hot the room suddenly felt.

“You’ve had an ‘I’m scheming’ face ever since we left Elizabeth’s.”

“Oh, that.” Sora ran his fingers through his hair in relief and sat on the edge of the bed. He could not get Elizabeth out of his mind—the way she so worrisomely wavered between hero and hollow, just like Riku and Kairi and Naminé and the others. “Look, if I tell you something, will you not tell the others? Because I don’t know how we’d pull it off, or if we even could—”

“What is it?”

Sora turned back towards him with fire in his eyes. “Riku, we have to save William Turner.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, leave me a comment, if you have time <3\. If you didn't like, feel free to roast me in the comment section; I'm down.


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